Friday, October 08, 2004

Free speech is a clearly established right

"the defendants violated Huminski's First Amendment right of free expression by issuing the trespass notices. The defendants are not entitled to
qualified immunity with regard to this claim because this right was clearly established at the time that the defendants issued the trespass notices." 81/85

"Blocking access" to public places is not permissible, when the public has shown no pattern of conduct that would warrant reasonable concerns:

violated Huminski's First Amendment right of access

Translation: There's no basis for NYC police to be immune in re the RNC protestors. Access to public places, means access to all, not just those who "want to claim it is a public place, therefore they have the right to be present to enforce the law."

If you want to "use the excuse of a public place" to justify your presence, then you need to allow the public to freely use that public place, so long as they do so in a peaceful, lawful manner.